A Bearable Situation
by the49thname
Summary: On any other day, in any other circumstance, going to Build-a-Bear would be fine, enjoyable even. Excitable kids and stuffed toys and the doughnut stand right outside - Allen couldn't complain, really. Being there on Christmas Eve with someone he barely got on with was as far from that as humanly possible. Kanda/Allen. Fic for DGM Secret Santa 2019.


Hello, this is a secret santa gift for alrnakarma on tumblr / crystaitype on twitter. The prompt was Kanda and Allen going to build-a-bear. Let me know what you think!

**Song the fic was written to:** _Closer_ by Postmodern Jukebox

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"Have I ever told you how much I hate you?"

Allen didn't turn, did nothing more than roll his eyes a little and shrug. "You literally signed up for this."

Kanda made a disgruntled noise, but said nothing. Allen resisted the urge to make a comment, and turned his attention to the storefront before him.

On any other day, in any other circumstance, going to Build-a-Bear would be fine, enjoyable even. Excitable kids and stuffed toys and the doughnut stand right outside - Allen couldn't complain, really. Being there on Christmas Eve with someone he barely got on with was as far from that as humanly possible.

Allen sighed, shoulders slumping a little. "Why did you let Lavi put us up to this?"

Kanda scowled. "You signed up for this too, dumbass."

"No, I didn't! _You_ were the one who made that stupid wager with him that you'd score more than him in that exam - which was never going to happen, by the way -" Kanda shot Allen a look, which he ignored "- and that you'd have to come here to get him a Christmas present if you lost."

Kanda narrowed his eyes, irritation rising. "And _you_ were the idiot who said you'd score more than the both of us."

Allen raised an eyebrow. "So what you're saying is we're both stupid." Kanda huffed and said nothing. Allen pulled a face and gestured at the storefront with resigned acceptance. "Let's just get this over with."

Allen made for the doors, Kanda following begrudgingly behind. The two of them instantly winced at the rush of hot air and cacophony of noise that assailed them as soon as they entered the store. Allen knew it would be busy - though how parents explained that 'Santa' got their kids their custom-made toys, he had no idea - but he wasn't quite prepared for the onslaught nonetheless.

The two of them stood, a little bewildered and overloaded by the noise, before Kanda took a begrudging step towards display shelves on a far wall. Eyes narrowed, expression radiating disgust, Kanda picked up a teddy bear from the shelf.

Despite Allen's lingering resentment at having to be in this situation, seeing Kanda forced into the same situation made it altogether rather… _bearable_.

Unable to keep the smile off of his face - both from Kanda's predicament and the unintentional pun - Allen watched as Kanda haphazardly placed the teddy bear back on its shelf and eyed the boxes below full of empty… cases? Skins? That seemed a little morbid, somehow, but he wasn't sure what else to call them.

Allen stepped forward and picked up an empty case for a panda and turned to Kanda with a smile.

"What about this?"

Kanda furrowed his brows and seemed to consider it for a moment before sighing. "He is always calling that professor 'panda'."

"Exactly! It's perfect."

"Can I help either of you?"

Allen and Kanda turned and looked down to see someone they could have easily mistaken for a child, given her height and Hot Topic-esque fashion. The girl's nametag stated her name was Road. She looked up at them, eyebrow raised.

Allen gave Kanda a look then shrugged. "Maybe?"

Road eyed the two of them up, saw the tension in Kanda's shoulders, the awkward smile on Allen's face, and came to an absolutely incorrect - but nonetheless amusing - conclusion. She smiled, almost sickly sweet, and shot Kanda a look.

"Well, no offense but I think your boyfriend here isn't a 'panda' kind of guy."

Silence, both their mind's struggling to process what had been said, before shock became a wonderful combination of embarrassment and borderline disgust, which only made Road's smile grow all the wider.

"No."

"We're not -"

A shared look - oh, that was awkward, that shouldn't be awkward - before turning back to Road and unceremoniously shoving the panda carcass in her hands.

Road shrugged. "Sure, whatever you say."

Allen narrowed his eyes, tried not to think too hard about it, and followed her to the stuffing machine, Kanda following begrudgingly behind. There was a significant queue - a rather loud one at that - and the next fifteen minutes went so slowly it was agonising. Any conversation Allen and Kanda could have attempted to have was overshadowed by the noise of children, parents placating said children, and employees forcing smiles and checking the nearby clock and hoping time would carry them to their next break a little faster.

Eventually, it was their turn, and Road gestured at Allen to step on a pedal in front of a machine filled with white fluff. Allen heard a derisive snort from behind him and turned to see Kanda holding up a bit of fluff against Allen's rather similar coloured hair.

Allen scowled, blew the fluff out of Kanda's hand, turned back, and stepped on the pedal before him so hard he could've broken it, if he tried just a little bit harder. Road raised an eyebrow, which Allen ignored, and made sure the fluff leaving the machine filled the panda correctly.

When the panda toy was nearly full, Road turned to Kanda with an almost sickly sweet smile - which made Allen warm up to her a little more - and gestured at a box full of felt hearts. It was quite morbid, actually, the more Allen thought about it out-of-context.

"Do you want to put the heart in?"

Kanda's scowl said more than enough about how he felt about that, but Allen turned to him with an almost matching smile to Road's own and practically pushed Kanda towards the box.

"Yeah, Kanda, why don't you help out a little?"

Allen picked up a heart and placed it in Kanda's hand. Kanda shoved it back at Allen, irritation flashing in his eyes.

"Why don't you?"

Allen's smile became forced, the felt heart crumpled a little between his fingertips before he forced it into Kanda's hand. The two of them completely forgot their surroundings for a moment, eyes locked, anger rising. If looks could kill, Allen would be a cooling corpse bleeding out in front of a dozen children, but luckily for him, Kanda could do nothing more than imagine it.

Eventually, knowing Allen was almost more stubborn than he was, Kanda let out a frustrated sigh and shoved the heart into the panda toy so roughly he nearly ripped the fabric. Road shot the two of them a look - some parents waiting in line behind them were doing the same thing, though with far less amusement - and strung the back of the toy up with ease.

She gave it to Kanda, almost as intent on annoying him as Allen was, and practically beamed.

"Now you have to go fluff him up over there."

Road gestured at a table rather aptly named the 'fluffing station', and watched as Kanda's expression shifted into something bordering on rage. Allen patted Kanda on the shoulder, unable to hide the amusement in his voice.

"I'll pick out some clothes."

Kanda seemed to consider bailing there and then, but after a moment of indecision he settled for resigned acceptance, at least enough to resist throwing the panda toy in Allen's face and storming off. Allen watched him head to the table - currently occupied by several children fighting over the air blowing pedal - and turned to the clothes occupying the far wall.

It didn't take long to find some clothes that vaguely matched what Lavi tended to wear - a scarf and some mismatched clothing matched his tacky fashion sense well enough - and by the time Allen was done Kanda looked about ready to murder someone.

Road turned as he came over, returned the smile that he gave, and joined in on watching Kanda barely managing his temper as he tried - rather admirably - to brush the panda toy around several screaming children.

Kanda gave up, seemingly, and shoved the panda toy in Allen's hands before finally leaving the store. Allen rolled his eyes, trying not to think about how expensive this was going to be.

It didn't take long to put the clothes on the toy - it worked well, actually, and Allen was strangely proud of it - and fill out the relevant information on a nearby computer.

By the time Allen was done - wallet significantly lighter, to his dismay - it was dark outside. He half-expected Kanda to have well and truly left him, but to his surprise he was stood outside with a coffee and doughnut in hand.

Before Allen could say anything, Kanda shoved the doughnut in Allen's mouth, took the cardboard box from Allen's hands, and met his eyes.

"We're never doing that again."

Allen considered it for a moment then shrugged. "If it means you give me food, I'd do it again."

Kanda scowled, muttered something under his breath, and walked off, leaving Allen to follow behind, a bemused smile on his face. Allen caught up with him, doughnut practically inhaled - it was a shame it was cold, but he was never one to complain about food - and stretched.

"So, what do we do now?"

Kanda raised an eyebrow. "Go home?"

Allen gestured at the box in Kanda's hands. "That cost me over £40, and you owe me more than a cold doughnut."

Kanda scowled, considered arguing for a moment, then sighed. He drank the rest of his coffee, chucked the empty container, and threw a somewhat awkward question Allen's way.

"Why do I feel like I'm being forced into taking you out on a date?"

Allen couldn't help but laugh at that. The awkwardness in Kanda's expression was the cherry on top of the proverbial cake, and despite feeling just as awkward, it was okay, actually. Allen smiled, radiating fake innocence that in no way covered up how much he was enjoying this.

"Well, if that's how you feel, you should probably do a better job at being my boyfriend."


End file.
